“Because the girl's got an iron backbone。 Why don't you invite her over sometime？”
“An iron backbone？ Granddad； you don't understand！ That girl is a royal pain。 She's a show…
off； she's a know…it…all； and she is pushy beyond
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belief！”
“Is that so。”
“Yes！ That's absolutely so！ And she's been stalking me since the second grade！”
He frowned； then looked out the window and asked； “They've lived there that long？”
“I think they were all born there！”
He frowned some more before he looked back at me and said； “A girl like that doesn't live
next door to everyone； you know。”
“Lucky them！”
He studied me； long and hard。 I said； “What？” but he didn't flinch。 He just kept staring at me；
and I couldn't take it — I had to look away。
Keep in mind that this was the first real conversation I'd had with my grandfather。 This was
the first time he'd made the effort to talk to me about
something besides passing the salt。 And does he want to get to know me？ No！ He wants to
know about Juli！
I